[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016) › 34.5 # 宗鏡錄 34.5 宗鏡錄 34.5 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [34.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.34.5) 答。夫說常與無常。我與無我。但形言跡。皆是方便。所以肇論云。菩薩於計常之中。演非常之教。以佛初出世。便欲說圓常之妙門。真我之佛性。為一切外道。皆妄執神我。遍十方界。起於常見。若說真常樂我淨。恐濫邪解。且一時拂下情塵故。云無常無樂無我無淨。又二乘及權假菩薩。不知諸佛祕旨。執方便門怱怱取證。皆住無我之理以為究竟。世尊又愍不達。遂乃具說常樂我淨。若有於此究竟之說。明見真我佛性。人木蟲塵。分明無惑。尚不住於中道。豈更見有常無常我無我二見之所亂乎。或若雖聞常樂我淨之名。只作常樂我淨之解。隨語生見。昧自真心。則我無我之藥。成我無我之病。故知真我難辯。非證不明。如大涅槃經云。譬如二人。共為親友。一是王子。一是貧賤。如是二人。互相往反。是時貧人。見是王子有一好刀。淨妙第一。心中貪著。王子後時捉持是刀。逃至他國。於是貧人。後於他家寄臥止宿。即於眠中䆿語刀刀。傍人聞之。收至王所。時王問言。汝言刀者。何處得耶。是人具以上事答王。王今設所屠割臣身。分張手足。欲得刀者。實不可得。臣與王子。素為親厚。先與一處。雖曾眼見。乃至不敢以手𢴤觸。況當故取。王復問言。卿見刀時。相貌何類。答言。大王。臣所見者。如羖羊角。王聞是已。欣然而笑。語言。汝今隨意所至。莫生憂怖。我庫藏中。都無是刀。況汝乃於王子邊見。時王即問諸群臣言。汝等曾見如是刀不。言已崩背。尋立餘子。紹繼王位。復問輔相。卿等曾於官藏之中。見是刀不。諸臣答言。臣等曾見。覆復問言。其狀何似。答言。大王。如羖羊角。王言我庫藏中。何處當有如是相刀。次第四王。皆檢校求索不得。却後數時。先逃王子。從他國還。來至本土。復得為王。既登王位。復問諸臣。汝見刀不。答言。大王。臣等皆見。覆復問言。其狀何似。答言。大王。其色清淨。如優鉢羅華。復有答言。形如羊角。復有說言。其色紅赤。猶如火聚。復有答言。猶如黑蛇。時王大笑。卿等皆悉不見我刀真實之相。善男子。菩薩摩訶薩亦復如是。出現於世。說我真相。說已捨去。喻如王子持淨妙刀。逃至他國。凡夫愚人。說言。一切有我有我。如彼貧人止宿他舍䆿語刀刀。聲聞緣覺。問諸眾生。我有何相。答言。我見我相大如拇指。或言如米。或如稗子。有言我相住在心中。熾然如日。如是眾生。不知我相。喻如諸臣不知刀相。菩薩如是說於我法。凡夫不知。種種分別。妄作我相。如問刀相。答似羊角。是諸凡夫。次第相續而起邪見。為斷如是諸邪見故。如來示現。說於無我。喻如王子語諸臣言。我庫藏中無如是刀。善男子。今日如來所說真我。名曰佛性。如是佛性。我佛法中喻如淨刀。善男子。若有凡夫能善說者。即是隨順無上佛法。若有善能分別隨順宣說。是等當知即是菩薩相貌。 > Answer: Speaking of permanence and impermanence, self and no-self, are merely the forms of verbal traces; all are skillful means. Therefore the Zhaolun says: 'The Bodhisattva expounds the teaching of non-permanence amidst those who calculate permanence.' When the Buddha first appeared in the world, he wished immediately to speak the wondrous gate of complete permanence and the Buddha-nature of the true self. But because all non-Buddhists falsely grasped an ātman pervading the realms of the ten directions and gave rise to the eternalist view, if he had spoken of true permanence, bliss, self, and purity, he feared it would be confused with heterodox understandings. Thus, temporarily sweeping away the dust of emotional attachment, he spoke of impermanence, non-bliss, no-self, and impurity. Furthermore, the two vehicles and provisional bodhisattvas, not knowing the secret intent of the Buddhas, clung to the gate of skillful means and hastily sought realization, all abiding in the principle of no-self and taking it to be ultimate. The World-Honoured One, pitying their lack of comprehension, thereupon fully expounded permanence, bliss, self, and purity. If anyone, upon hearing this ultimate teaching, clearly sees the Buddha-nature of the true self—distinctly and without delusion across human beings, trees, insects, and dust—they do not even abide in the middle way, how much less could they be confused by the two views of permanence and impermanence, or self and no-self! But if, although hearing the names of permanence, bliss, self, and purity, they merely form intellectual interpretations of permanence, bliss, self, and purity, generating views according to words and remaining blind to their own true mind, then the medicine of self and no-self becomes the illness of self and no-self. Hence we know that the true self is difficult to discern; unless one realizes it, it cannot be illuminated. As the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: 'For example, two men were close friends: one was a prince, and the other was poor and base. These two men visited back and forth with each other. At that time, the poor man saw that the prince possessed an excellent knife, exceptionally clean and wondrous, and in his heart he coveted it. Later, the prince took this knife and fled to another country. Thereupon the poor man later lodged and slept at another's house, and in his sleep he babbled: "Knife, knife!" A bystander heard this and arrested him, taking him to the king. The king then asked: "You spoke of a knife; where did you get it?" The man answered the king in full with the matters above, \[saying\]: "Even if Your Majesty were now to butcher and carve my body and dismember my hands and feet, wishing to obtain the knife, it truly cannot be had. I was formerly on intimate terms with the prince and stayed together with him. Although I once saw it with my eyes, I never even dared to touch it with my hand, much less take it intentionally." The king asked again: "When you saw the knife, what was its appearance like?" He answered: "Great King, what I saw was like a ram's horn." Having heard this, the king smiled with joy and said to him: "You may now go wherever you wish; do not give rise to anxiety and fear. In my treasury there has never been such a knife, how much less could you have seen it beside the prince!" The king then asked his ministers: "Have you ever seen such a knife?" Having spoken, he passed away. Soon another son was established to succeed to the throne. He again asked the prime ministers: "Have you ever seen this knife in the royal treasury?" The ministers answered: "We have seen it." He asked again: "What was its shape like?" They answered: "Great King, like a ram's horn." The king said: "Where in my treasury could there be a knife of such an appearance?" In succession, four kings inspected, sought, and could not find it. Sometime later, the prince who had fled returned from the other country to his native land and became king again. Having ascended the throne, he asked the ministers: "Have you seen the knife?" They answered: "Great King, we have all seen it." He asked again: "What was its shape like?" They answered: "Great King, its colour was pure, like an utpala flower." Another answered: "Its shape was like a ram's horn." Another said: "Its colour was bright red, like a mass of fire." Another answered: "Like a black snake." The king laughed heartily \[and said\]: "None of you have seen the true appearance of my knife." Good sons, the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva is also like this: appearing in the world, he expounds the true characteristic of the self; having expounded it, he departs, just as the prince holding the pure, wondrous knife fled to another country. Foolish ordinary beings say: "Everything has a self, has a self", just as that poor man lodging in another's house babbled in his sleep: "Knife, knife!" Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas ask sentient beings: "What characteristic does the self have?" They answer: "I see the characteristic of the self to be as large as a thumb", or say "like a grain of rice", or "like a millet grain", and some say "the characteristic of the self resides in the heart, blazing like the sun." Sentient beings such as these do not know the characteristic of the self, just as the ministers did not know the characteristic of the knife. When the Bodhisattva speaks thus of the Dharma of the self, ordinary beings do not understand, generating various discriminations and falsely constructing the characteristic of a self, just as when asked about the characteristic of the knife, they answered that it was like a ram's horn. These ordinary beings give rise to false views in continuous succession. In order to sever such false views, the Tathāgata manifests and speaks of no-self, just as the prince said to the ministers: "In my treasury there is no such knife." Good sons, the true self spoken of today by the Tathāgata is named Buddha-nature. Such Buddha-nature is, in my Buddhadharma, likened to the pure knife. Good sons, if there is an ordinary person who can skillfully expound it, that is following the unsurpassed Buddhadharma. If there are those who can skillfully distinguish, accord with, and proclaim it, they should be known to bear the characteristics of a bodhisattva.' > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 34.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.34.4) - [Next: 34.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.34.6) - [Up: 34](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.34) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.34.5) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.34.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.34.5) · Pramāṇa